Over 1900 detained in China in privacy-related cyber crimes

BEIJING: Chinese authorities have detained more than 1,900 suspects in a crackdown against crimes involving illegal obtainment of citizens' private information.

The Ministry of Public Security yesterday said that during the campaign, which began in April, police nationwide have handled over 750 related criminal cases, seized more than 23 billion pieces of private information and deleted over 352,000 pieces of illegal information, reports Xinhua.

The ministry added that the campaign has also seen the closure of more than 610 websites and online programs.

China in recent years have witnessed surge in telecom scams, cyber fraud and blackmail.

According to the ministry Malware such as trojan horses, phishing sites and malicious mobile apps as well as free Wi-Fi service have been the top culprits for personal information theft.